NHL Team Guide: Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maples Leafs franchise was founded in 1917 as the Toronto Arenas. Two years later, they became the Toronto St. Patricks and when the team was purchased by Conn Smythe in 1927, the team finally became the Maple Leafs.
One of the Original Six – Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, and New York Rangers the others – Toronto has a storied past with a number of legendary players and numerous championships. These days, the Maple Leafs TV schedule includes a full slate of national and local telecasts.
Nationally broadcast Toronto games can be viewed on NBC, NBCSN, and the CBC. Fans can also find games on TSN and Sportsnet Ontario. Fans can watch the Toronto Maple Leafs complete schedule via live stream on NHL Live.
NHL Standings
Toronto is the second-oldest franchise in the NHL and is currently a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The Atlantic Division is made up of eight teams, including Montreal, Boston, and Detroit all of which are Original Six members.
Championship History
The Maples Leafs franchise is second to the Montreal Canadiens in the number of Stanley Cups won. Toronto has won 13 Stanley Cups, but the most recent was over 50 years (1966-67) ago. The team’s first championship was won in its first season in 1917-18.
The Maple Leafs have won seven division championships and qualified for the NHL playoffs 70 times. Toronto won three consecutive Stanley Cups in 1946-47, 1947-48, and 1948-49. In the decade from 1941 to 1951, the Maples Leafs won six of ten Stanley Cup titles. It was one of hockey’s greatest early dynasties.
Toronto captured Stanley Cups in 1917-18, 1921-22, 1931-32, 1941-42, 1944-45, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1950-51, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, and 1966-67.
The Leafs' Home
Toronto plays its home games at the Scotiabank Arena located in the city’s inner harbor. The arena opened in 1999 as the Air Canada Centre and was renamed with a new sponsorship agreement signed in July 2018. Scotiabank Arena seats 18,800 and can hold up to 20,270 with standing room.
Best of Maple Leafs
Toronto has the distinction of being the NHL franchise with the most players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with 62. Clarence Day was one of them. Maple Leafs fans know him as “Hap,” short for Happy.
Day spent 33 years in hockey as a player, coach, referee, and general manager. He played for Toronto for 14 seasons and his name appears on the Stanley Cup seven times. Day was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1961 and Toronto retired his No. 4 jersey in 2016.
Mats Sundin, who spent 13 years with the Maple Leafs, is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. He never had a season of fewer than 23 goals scored and tallied 30 or more in 10 of the campaigns. Sundin’s No. 13 was retired by Toronto and the former Olympic gold medal winner with Sweden in 2006 was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
Frank Mahovlich’s first 12 years in the NHL were spent in Toronto where he totaled 296 goals and 599 career points. He is seventh on the all-time Toronto scoring list. Mahovlich played on six of Toronto’s Stanley Cup winning teams and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981.
Author: Dan Anderson